I'll let the video below provide the majority of the information. But briefly…

Quite often athletes get too caught up in, "harder is better." i.e. "if I don't put in 3 hours on the court working on my game, I'm not going to be the best player that I can be." OR, "if I don't leave the court feeling like I'm about to puke, I didn't go hard enough."

I like this mindset, as I know you are thinking, "I'll do WHATEVER it takes to be the best player that I can be." BUT, there are many aspects of your game that help you to become a great player - skill, heart, discipline, conditioning, strength, staying healthy, coachability, etc. etc. It's the beginning of summer! So, when you head to the gym to work on your game, emphasize skill development. Conditioning will become a higher priority as tryouts in October approaches. But for now, focus on improving your skeelz! And oh yeah, get in the weight room, will ya! Check out the video below as I go over two very important factors in getting the most out of your game: Efficiency and the "hierarchy" of off-season training for basketball.

Now, go get in the gym and work on those handles, your pull-up J, and work to expand the range on your shot. And remember, do everything with a purpose! For every dribble, every shot, and every move, I want you to visualize that you are being guarded by the best defender in your conference. Go get it!

About the author:

Danny McLarty, CSCS is a fitness coach at Flex Personal Training in Danville, California.
Danny earned a place in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 for his high school and college career.
He accomplished this while standing at a height of 5'7".
He is also a basketball skills coach, helping players improve their ability to get open, with and without the ball.
You can read more about Danny at his website, www.DannyMcLarty.com .

NOTICE:All material on this web site is copyrighted. No article may be reproduced or redistributed in any form or manner
without the expressed written consent of the respective author. Commercial reproduction is not permitted without the written permission
of the Coaching Staff at PowerBasketball.